Julio Marron

Julio Marron, 1860-1909
Fire Department Chief

Buried in City/Loosley Cemetery, exact location unknown

(Photo courtesy of Tim Kovacs, Phoenix Fire Department,
​Historic Station #8)

---

Julio Marron became Phoenix’s first Hispanic fire department chief in 1898.

Marron was born a United States citizen on January 31, 1860, in Los Angeles, California. He was the eleventh of twelve children belonging to Juan Marron and Maria Elena Carrillo.

During his early years—and especially after the arrival of the railroads--Julio Marron saw Los Angeles change from an originally Hispanic town to one dominated by Anglo culture.

Marron may have been in Phoenix as early as 1875, according to an article in the Arizona Miner Jan. 22, 1875. In 1880, he appears on the census, employed in a blacksmith shop belonging to J. A. Marshall.

On April 8, 1885, he wed Clara Concepcion Woolsey, the unacknowledged daughter of King S. Woolsey, a well-known Arizona pioneer. Julio and Clara had a son in 1885 or 1886, but he died at age two and was buried in Tempe. Another son, Esteban, was born in Phoenix in 1887.

On August 17, 1889, the Marrons welcomed a son they named Julio, after his father. Children Fernando, Ellen, Clara, Helen and Louisa followed at regular intervals, although Fernando and Ellen did not survive childhood.

In 1892, Marron joined other Hispanic blacksmiths in the all-volunteer Yucatec Hose Company to provide the Phoenix community with fire-fighting services. They probably kept their hose carts at their shops, ready to put down their tools and roll at a moment’s notice. 

Marron was elected assistant fire chief in 1898. Later that same year, he became Phoenix’s first Hispanic fire chief when his predecessor stepped down.

While the Marron family seems not to have been recorded on the 1900 federal census, voter registration rolls prove that they were living in Phoenix.

As a leading Hispanic citizen in Phoenix, Marron was active in the Junta Patriótica Mexicana, a local organization that advocated for Hispanics’ rights and sponsored the annual Fiestas Patrias celebration each September.

In September, 1903, Marron was seriously injured while helping to construct the historic sugar beet factory in Glendale. A heavy timber fell on him, fracturing his skull. Immediate surgery reconstructed his cranium, and he lived for another five years.

Like so many others, Julio Marron succumbed to tuberculosis on March 16, 1909. Although his grave in City/Loosley Cemetery might have had a marker originally, it has since disappeared; consequently, the exact location of his grave is unknown.

© 2026 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 10 September 2026.

​​​​​​​If you would like assistance researching our interred, you can find more information on our website. You can contact us at [email protected] at any time. Thank you for your interest to preserve the history of Arizona's pioneers!